Closed conduit for electric railways.



PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

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.]Z M r 1 110. 813,101. PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906. A. w. LOHMANN, s1. :1 J.PRUIS. CLOSED 0011mm FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.Z2. 1905.

2 SHEETS-$113311 2.

UNITED STATES PATEN FFIQE.

AUGUSTUS WILLIAM LOHMANN, SR, OF CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE,

AND J CHAN PRUIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CLOSED CONDUIT FOR ELECTRlC RAlLWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 20, 1906.

Application filed March 22, 1905- SBTiEl NO- 251,385-

To all whom it vita/y concern:

Be it known that we, AUGUSTUS WILLIAM LOHMANN, Sr., a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Chattanooga, in the county of Hamilton andState of Tennessee, and JOHAN PRUIS, a citizen of Germany, residing atChicago, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inClosed Conduits for Electric Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to so-called underground systems, and hasparticular reference to normally closed conduits and open circuitstherefor.

The objects of the invention are in general to provide in a new andimproved manner for a normally dead trolley Wire or wires and theenergization thereof only in short lengths or car lengths and only atthe moment when the car passes over each such length; to protect thetrolley-wires by a simple arrangement of shutters or closing-platesagainst weather conditions, which ordinarily interfere with propercontact or conductivity; to greatly simplify and make more dependablethe mechanism for opening and closing the slot-shutters; to obviate theuse of special shutter-opening mechanisms, and thereby materially reducecost of construction, and, particularly, to eliminate the danger ofserious wrecks and violent jarring of shutters by providing a shutterwhich interposes no ends at right angles to the path of movement throughthe trolley-arm slot and which is moved out of the path of said armgradually instead of suddenly, as in shutters heretofore constructed.

Our invention consists in the novel construction and combination ofparts which attain the above-named objects and such other advantages aswill be referred to hereinafter in detail, and particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 is an end' view of an electric conduit with our inventionapplied thereto and the shutters in their closed. position. Fig. 2 is asectional end view taken substantially on line X X of Fig. 4 with theaddition of a portion of the trolleyarm and trolley and showing theshutters in their open position. Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a plan view of Fig. 2, the trolley-arm being shown by dotted linesand the top of the conduit-arch broken away to better disclose theshutters and their operating mechanism. Fig. 5 is a central longitudinalsection through a portion of the conduit, partly broken away, takensubstantially on line Y Y of Fig. 2. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are detail views.

Referring to the drawings, A A represent the walls of the conduit B,secured to crossbeams or T-rails C by means of bolts 2,whicl1 passthrough flanges 3, projecting from the lower edges of said walls. Thecross-beams C support brackets D, which have base-plates 4, fastened bybolts 5. In each bracket D is an opening 6 for the insulated feed-wire7, and in the top of each bracket are j ournaled, on pivots 8, curvedarms E E, to which are bolted at 9 9 the shutters or closing-plates F F,which close the slot G for the trolley arm or hanger H. The shutters F Fare made in suitable lengths to be easily moved by the trolley-arm. Saidarm is shown provided. with wear-plates 1O 10, which contact with theshutters, though any other suitable contacts may take the places of saidplates, if desired. On the arms E E are counterweight-rods I I, carryingadjustable counterweights J J, held by set-screws 11 11. Said arms androds therefore constitute levers fulcrumed at 8, and the force exertedupon said levers may be varied by adjusting the counterweights. On eacharm E or E is a lug 12, to which is bolted at 18 a bar of wood or othernon-conducting material K, and on the upper end of said bar is bolted at14 a bracket 15, supporting part of a trolley-wire section whichcontacts with the trolley 17 or 17. Opposite opening 6 on one of thebrackets D, which supports a lever E and shutter F, is a lug 18, inwhich are holes 19 for bolts 20, that clamp arms 20 to said lug. Thelatter arms are composed of insulating material and carry acontact-plate 21, bolted fast at 22. The contact-plate is connected withthe feed-wire 8 through a wire 23, spliced to the feed-wire at one endand having its opposite end fastened to the apertured ear 24 of theplate 21. On each arm E is a bracket 25, consisting of a curved plate 26and lugs 27, between which is clamped an insulatingarm carrying contacts29, adapted to engage therebetween the contact-plate 21. Holes 30 in thecurved plate 26 receive screws or bolts 31, having threaded engagementwith the arm E. Connection between the trolley-wire 16 and feed-wire 8is completed through an insulated wire 32, fastened at one end tocontacts 29 by the bindingpost 33 and at the opposite end. to a plate34, clamped between head of bolt 14 and bracket 15.

The meeting edges of the shutters F F, as

shown in Figs. 3 and 4, follow a zigzag line, each shutter presenting anobtuse angle whose sides cross from side to side of the slot G on gentleinclinesand each shutter laps beyond the edges of the usual slot-ironsor, in other words, beyond the edges of the slot G, so'as to prevent thepossibility of presenting an obstacle to the trolley-arm. The slot G isa straight line as compared with the opening between the shutters. andthe sides of said slot sup ort the trolley-arm when the latter moves t eshutters. Several important objects are attained by thisconstructionnamely, special 0 ening devices traveling in advance and int e rear of the trolleyarm for the purpose of opening a passage thereformay be dispensed with, thereby greatly simplifying the construction andeliminating part of the danger of inoperativeness; no abutting shutterends are interposed in the. path of the trolley-arm, as the latter nevercomes into contact with any other portions of each shutter than itsinclined edges f and f, because, as stated, the blunt ends of eachshutter are always under the slot-irons, as shown clearly by dottedlines in Fig. 3; the opening of the shutters is effected gradually, eachshutter being moved continuously to its full-open position during thetransit of the trolley-arm one-half the length of the shutter and thenas gently or gradually closed instead of the ends of each shutter beinginterposed as a menace in the path of the arm said ends are arrangedlaterally of the path of movement of the arm, as shown by dotted linesin Fig. 3, and, so far as each individual shutter is concerned, itleaves the slot wide open at its ends, the closure being effected by theapex of the angle formed by the opposite shutter, which, as shown,overlaps one-half of each of two opposite shutters. Another advantagegained y this construction is that the increase in weight of the mass tobe moved incidental to 7 increase in the length of each shutter is atleast partly compensated for by the greater obtuseness of the sides ffof each shutterangle. As the inclines presented by the sides f f becomeless steep the greater effectiveness will be given the trolley-arm inwedging the shutters apart.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the walls A A of the conduit are arched andany dirt or foreign substance which may lodge between the lower edges ofthe slot G and the upper faces of the shutters cannot bind the walls ofthe conduit and shutters together to interfere with the movement of theshutters. When the latter are closed, the trolley-wire is swung to oneside and out of perpendicular alinement with the slot, as shown inFig. 1. The

object of this is to protect the wire againsttheir accidentally strikingthe trolley 17 or 1 7.

Two trolley-arms and trolleys are provided, so that while one trolleytraverses the gap between wire sections 16 the other trolley will keepthe circuit between the car and feedwire closed. I a

By proper adjustment of the weights J J the shutters and weights may bebalanced on their pivots 8 to such an extent as to swin under lightpressure against the inclined edges f orf Other modifications may bemade in the embodiment of our invention without dearting from the spiritthereof, and we therefore do not wish to confine same to the specificconstruction herein shown and described.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. The combination with the conduit opening orslot of shutters, each thereof having sides forming an angle, the sidesof which extend from one side of said slot and meet at the opposite sidethereof.

2. The combination with the slot-opening to a conduit, ofoppositely-disposed shutters,

each said shutter having edges which form the sides of an obtusetriangle, the base of which obtuse angle rests at one edge of saidopening while the apex of said angle touches the opposite side of saidopening.

3. The combination with a conduit opening or slot, of pivotally-mountedshutters the edges of which meet diagonally across said slot in zigzagorder and provide inclines along which the trolley-arm is adapted tomove and thereby impart a gradual opening-andclosing movement to saidshutters.

4. The combination with a conduit opening or slot, of shutters havinginclined meeting edges which cross the slot or opening from side to sidein two intersecting vertical planes, the edges of each shutter meetingthe intersecting edges of two oppositely-disposed shutters, for thepurpose set forth.

5. The combination with a conduit slot or opening,-ofoppositely-disposed shutters, each shutter extending across the fullwidth of said slot or opening and having oppositelyinclined edges whichmeet parallel edges of abutting shutters.

6. The combination with a conduit slot or opening, of oppositelydisposedshutters which meet on angular lines crossing said opening, saidshutters having pivotal supports within said conduit, means tending tohold said shutters in their closed positions and means for varying theforce exerted upon said shutters to hold same in said closed positions.

7. The combination with an electric conduit, of centrally-arrangedsupports, curved shutter-arms E, E mounted to swing in oppositedirections upon a common axis of rotation, a feed-wire, a trolley-wireand means for making and breaking electrical connection between saidfeed-wire and trolley-wire by, respectively, the opening-and-closingmovements of said shutter-arms.

8. The combination with a conduit having a slot or opening, of shuttersarranged to swing in the arc of a circle toward and from each other, allof said shutters having substantially a common axis of rotation andhaving only their side edges projecting into said opening, the abuttingends of said shutters meeting diagonally across said opening whenclosed.

9. The combination with a conduit having an opening for the trolley poleor arm, of shutters arranged to swing in arcs of circles toward and fromeach other, said circles having their centers on a single axial line theabutting ends of said shutters meeting at the sides of said opening, afeed-wire, a trolleywire mounted to swing with said shutters, andcontacts electrically connected with, respectively, said feed-wire andtrolley-wire, the trolley-wire contact being movable with said Wire andshutters.

10. The combination with a conduit having an opening or slot for thetrolley-arm, of concentrically-pivoted shutters arranged to swing towardand from each other in the arcs of circles, said shutters mounted oncurved levers pivoted within said conduit, each said lever having acounterweight-arm and a counterweight slidably adjustable thereon, afeed-wire, contact-arms upon said levers, and

means for making and breaking the circuit through said contact-arms andfeed-wire by the movements of said levers.

11. The combination with an electric conduit, of centrally-arrangedsupports D having openings 6 therethrough for the feed-wire, thefeed-wire, counterweighted and concentrically pivoted shutter-levers E,E and I, I, the shutters F, F, having inclined edges f, f mounted onsaid levers, the insulating-arms 28 secured to levers comprising membersE and I, the bars K also secured to said levers and supporting thetrolley-wire 16, the insulating-arms 20 secured to said supports and thecontacts 21 and 29 operable by the movements of said levers.

12. The combination with the concentrically-pivoted arms E, E andshutters F, F of the radial arms K supporting pivotally the trolley-wiresections 16, the radial arms I, I adjustably weighted to swing arms E, Eand the shutters thereon, the oscillating contacts which move with saidshutters and the stationary contacts connected to the feed-wire, and thetrolley-arms H and H and trolleys arranged as shown and described.

13. The combination with a conduit having the slot G, of theconcentrically-pivoted shutters F and F, the curved arms carrying saidshutters, the trolley-wire section carried by one series of said armsand movable therewith to place the trolley-wire in line with the trolleywhen the arm of the latter opens said slot, the weighted arms and theadjustable weights thereupon, the feed-wire, and the connections betweensaid feed-wire and trolley-wire arranged to break the circuittherebetween when said slot is closed.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands inthe presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

AUGUSTUS WILLIAM LOHIHANN, SR. JOHAN PRUIS. I Witnesses:

A. KORTSOHAOE, Jr. MAX STENGEL.

